Review MORAX “The Amulet”

Bergen, Norway is a city that is not only known for a lot of rainy days, but also has a very well established music scene. Bergen is very well known as one of the epicenters of Norwegian black metal, but there are also other metal genres that claim some attention. One of them is Morax.

Morax is the brainchild of Inculter singer/guitarist Remi A. Nygård, who basically made “The Amulet” all by himself. He played all the instruments and did the vocals. Morax is a one-man-show and a pretty good one as well.

The music of Morax could be described as a mixture of 60s/70s hard rock (“A Thousand Names”) and thrash metal (“Inverted Church”), with strong inspiration from bands like Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and Judas Priest. However, Morax still developed an own sound, which was already presented on “Rites and Curses” and is now further developed.

What’s really great about this album is that it was made by a guy who obviously had a lot of fun doing it. These eight songs are authentic metal without any frills. It is down-to-earth heavy metal with an oldschool vibe without being outdated or worn out. Songs like “The Snake” are great examples of upbeat denim and leather metal, while “Seven Pierced Hearts”, clocking in at eight minutes, is the counterpart to these furious anthems. The inspiration of bands like Black Sabbath can be heard in the main riff of the song and the chiming bell underlines the impression. The track itself is a slower paced metal anthem that also reminds you of Dio during his Black Sabbath days.

The riff of “Phantom Sleeper” made me think of early Anthrax before “The Descent” is the hard-hitting finale of “The Amulet” that also contains some epic metal elements.

“The Amulet” is a metal album that is based solely on the passion for heavy metal in a broader sense. There’s no big master plan that defines these songs. It is more music by a metal fan for metal fans and that is what creates the magic.